The article presents three arguments to the reader. First, it argues that organizational practices and changes in certain external factors affect attraction and retention of employees. The main challenges faced by organizations are due to changes in laws that govern industrial relations.
Secondly, it argues that good organizational practices are important in attraction and retention of skilled employees. Thirdly, the article argues that it is necessary for organizations to diversify their workforce and address issues regarding balance between work and life for employees in order to attract and retain them.
These arguments are built upon using a research study conducted in 2009. The study provides responses from employees concerning challenges they face at their workplaces, strategies that managers use to attract and retain employees, and challenges managers face in attracting and retaining employees.
The research also investigated how employees in the resource sector in Australia perceive the influence of changes in legislation. The article uses evidence of examination of strategise that can help to attract employees to advance the arguments. Such strategies include good employment practices and employee involvement in the resource sector. Finally, the article uses evidence form literature on attraction and retention of employees and good employment practices to further the arguments.
The arguments presented in this paper are convincing because the evidence they present to build on them are reliable and valid. The survey presents data obtained from employees’ responses to questions whose answers validated the arguments. For example, the literature reviewed by authors of the article included past studies conducted by government agencies and professional writers. The article cites information from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).
There are also citations from various writers such as Crawford, Frith, Cooper, Bailey et. al, and Knox who are professional and reliable writers. Information obtained from Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) and The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) gives reason to believe that the information is accurate and applicable.
The authors also cite literature from different professional authors who have studied the subject of employee attraction and retention for many years. They have also conducted several studies relating to the topic in past years.
For example, they cite the works of Vanderberg et al., Guest, Boxall, and Mackay that studies the role of high involvement work systems in retention of employees. In addition, they cite the works of Beauregard & Henry, O’Halloran, and Erickson and Gratton that explore the role played by good employment practices in attracting and retaining skilled employees.
The arguments could be improved by providing more statistical data from past research studies. This could include studies and surveys conducted by authors whose works have been cited in the article. In addition, the arguments could be improved by involving workers from other sectors of the economy. 97 % of workers who participated in the survey worked in either mining or gas and exploration industries. This could have resulted in biased results because other sectors of the economy were poorly represented.
Evidence obtained from the survey is biased because it is not representative of all sizes of organizations. It focuses on medium sized and large corporations that have well-established human resource divisions. They could have included small organizations whose human resource divisions are not well established. This would aid in eradicating bias and giving more accurate and reliable information and data.